


Salt in the Wound

by Katsala



Series: Bite Me [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batman: The Killing Joke, Vampire Barbara, vampire batman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 04:13:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6596260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsala/pseuds/Katsala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barbara is not the only one who changes that night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salt in the Wound

She's spending the night in with her father. She hasn't done that for a while now, because of how busy she's been being Batgirl. It's nice. She's wearing her yellow sweater with the three fourths sleeves and a new brown skirt she wasn't sure about in the store but that's growing on her. Dad's made coffee, and the smell of it blocks out the scent of flesh and blood that normally is overlaid in every part of her life.

They talk about her job at the library, and about college. When she was little, Babs though she would never be able to go, back when they thought she would stop aging. She can't see her own reflection in the mirror, but Dad and Bruce have both assured her she's getting older.

Dad doesn't bring up Dick and neither does she.

The doorbell rings. She answers it.

Babs, of all people, knows just how fast she can move. But she's frozen.

The bullet hits right below her hips. It's a perfect shot. Anyone more human would be dead. Instead, she feels her spine shatter.

There is so much pain, so much blood, and Babs has never felt so acutely inhuman in her entire life. Her fangs are out, uncontrolled, ripping through her lips, her glasses are cracked and hanging off her face but she doesn't need them anyway, hasn't for years; she feels her teeth dig into something soft, something tearable…

"Barb! Barb!"

Her father is screaming at her. He's the only person that calls her Barb. She lets the Joker go and falls back onto to the floor.

She wonders if this is how Jason felt.

* * *

 

Barbara is not the only one who changes that night.


End file.
